Day 22: Fretboard and installing the frets

Over the last few days I had filled any gaps/holes in the body of the guitar around the binding and glued and shaped the heel cap. Today, I spent the first hour sanding the sound board with 150/180/240/320 papers and sealing it with shellac, in preparation to start work on the fretboard.

We then checked the height of the fretboard with a straight edge extending from the top of the saddle to a 2mm high spacer at the position of the 1st fret which imitated the string height. The fretboard needed lowering by 1/2mm (to reach 3.5mm at 1st string and 4.5mm at 6th string), so I scraped and sanded it level.

I repeated the eight-step process shown below for the first 10 frets with the neck of the guitar held in a vice at the fret being installed.

Installation of the first 10 frets went well. Frets 11-19 were installed in much the same way, but hammering and clamping had to be done more carefully. For frets 16-19, I used a caul and clamp through the sound hole.

For frets 11-15, I used a couple of large clamps and some wood to protect the heel cap and back of the guitar.

I then started to dress the frets and will finish them off over the next few days. Nearly finished!

Today corresponded to Roy’s book pp. 284-288.